Sweetrubbish
by newgirlintown212
Summary: New chapter! :D
1. Tickets and Calls

I stood up from the couch. Marissa would come running down any minute and scream, "I WON THE TICKETS!"

I just knew it. Marissa was trying out this Kiss FM contest for tickets to a Sweetrubbish concert.

Sweetrubbish was this 'awesome' new band that was dicovered somewhere in England. They were this cool British band, (coughcough**MUSE**coughcough), and they also formed here in America...but supposedly they weren't accepted as good here in America and they flew off to England, got super famous in Brittian, then ditched the country who actually appreciated them and flew back over here to America, and demanded their limelight.

Awesome band, right?

Well, anyways, Marisa rushed downstairs and chucked the phone at me. "I can't say it!" she moaned, "You!"

"Is it on?" I whispered, frantically.

"Yes!" she mouthed. "Hurry!"

So I slammed the phone against my ear. "Excuse me? Sorry. Bad reception." I said as I silently glared at Marissa.

The man on the other end said, "Name, please?"

"Oh. Sammy. My name is Sammy." I said.

"Okay, then. Here's a trick question...who layed the egg first-the chicken or the egg?"

That's stupid. _No one _new the answer to that!

Waiiit a minute-Who _layed_ the egg first?

"Sammy, ten more seconds." he said.

"Hurry!" Marissa said. "Just say the egg came first!"

But it was the chicken, because _ob-viously _the chicken _layed _it first.

"Chicken." I said. "The chicken."

"No!" Marissa cried. "Sam_my!"_

_"Annnnnd..._That is CORRRRECT!"  
Marissa stopped._"What?" _she said.

The man continued, "We said it differently-we said 'who _layyyyyyyed_ the egg first when it was really who _cammmmme _first-the chicken or the egg-but you knew that we said it wrong and you answered the _chickkkkken _but if it was who _cammmme _first you probably would have said the _eeeeeee_-"

I spoke into the speaker, calmly, "I know."

The man laughed. "Someone's in a hurry, eh? I'm busy, too, today, you know, first I-"

"Excuse me," I cut off."T-Remind me again what band I'll be getting tickets to see?"

"Uhm...Sweetrubbish?" he laughed nervously, (probably afraid I was going to embarrass him again on a national radio station.)

"And..." I spoke. "How many, again?"

"Uhhhh. Five?" he said, again, nervously.

"Cool. How do I get them?" I asked.

"We'll switch the broadcast so only we can hear you, and you can tell us your email and we can email the tickets 'sitLET'SSWITCHNOWJERRY!" the man yelled. Then he added, "Okay," he said, "Tell me your email, Sammy, and we'll email it to you." so I told the man my email address and he said, "Alrighty. We'll send the tickets right on over..."

I quickly checked my email on Marissa computer and said into the phone, "Well, I'm so excited I won!" I said. "Nowbye!"

"Okay enj-" but I hung up anyways.

Marissa stared at the screen on the computer. "Sammy- five tickets!"

"Cool?" I say, not really knowing why it mattered that much.

She hit print and said, "You, me, Billy, _Casey, _and DANNY!"

"Whoopee." I said, sarcastically.

She took the paper with five tickets out of the printer and held it to her heart, "It's like _destiny._"

"Yeah," I said, taking the paper from her, "Destiny schmestiny. _I _won the tickets, didn't I? So shouldn't _I _pick who gets to come?"

Marissa pouts. "But _I _called them in.."

"But _you _would have said _eeeeeegg_." I laughed.

"Fine. But I'll never forgive you."

I laughed again. "Fine. They can come-but only if _you _call them up and invite 'em."

"Deal." she said.

Marissa grabbed the phone and called them up. First, she called Billy and obviously he could come. But then she called Danny and started to panic. "Ohno. Ohno. What if he says no, or I-"

"Calm down, Marissa." I said. "The worst thing that could happen is he could reject you and then make fun of for the rest of your life."

"What?" she cried. But the speaker-phone-ified phone's ringing picked up. "Hey?" Danny's voice.

"Oh, h-heeyy." Marissa said shakily.

Danny asked, "Hey, Marissa. What's up?"

"Well...!Imean_I_'scomingandpro'llyCaseytooplease?"

"Uhm. A concert, you say? Sweetrubbish?  
"Y-yeah." Marissa looked like she was going to cry since she just acted like an idiot.

I patted her on the back as Danny said sure and thanks and everythin and hung up.

Marissa sighed. "T-time to call Casey." she changed into a wicked smile.

"Oh, great."

Marissa called him up.

"Hello?" Casey said. "Marissa?" he sounded hopeful. Like he almost wished it was me. That made me feel weird inside. Considering the fact that I admited to myself a couple weeks ago that I wanted to kiss him at Brandon's pool party. After that things got strange for us. Especially because his dad is now dating my mom...

"Say something." I whispered, but i nstead of doing just that, she shoved the phone in my hands.

"Hey!" I said immediately, hand-slitting my throat to show Marissa she was dead. She wiggled her eyebrows like, "What'cha gonna do, foo?"

"Sammy?" his voice seemed brighter. Happier. Less confused-and-worried.

"Yeah uhm...I was just calling because I have a couple tickets to see Sweetrubbish perform tonight and I wanted to know if you could come? With Billy, Danny, and, of course, Marissa."

I could hear the invisible voice in his voice, 'And you picked _me?'_

"So..." I said, awkwardly.

"So I'll come." he said. "and thanks! This will be fun..I mean...you know. It just sounds like fun. A little break from school."

I just realized I hadn't spoken to him since the summer. It was almost the end of September now.

"Yeah." I said nodding. "It will."

So we hung up, and I had to hear a whole speil about how my conversation with my crush turned out just fine, but her conversation broke like the bridge she was building in her heart...blah blah. Half of it sounded like she copied it out of our l.a book or a poetry book. Whatever.

So to spend the rest of the day, we both watched Twilight a million times, and repeating the part where Edward said, "You can Google it," over and _over, _so it sounded like, "You can GoogYou can GoogYou can Google it" really fast. Then, because I'd been tortured enough, we watched Pirates of the Carribbean, followed by The Dark Knight. And to end the night of 'fun' movies, Marissa forced me to watch a Hills marathon on MTV. And boy, even though I hated it, Spencer is a creep. (Not that it was interesting or anything, seriously.)

Moving on. Casey, Billy and Danny arrived while Lauren was having a birthday party in bikinis and Lo and Audrina kept fighting. Of course, Billy had to make some gross jokes and comments, and made us exactly twelve minutes late for Sweetrubbish.

"Okay." I said standing up from the couch. "Can we go now? You can stay and watch, Billy, no one will mind."

We all snickered and Billy got up. "This is gonna cost you."

"One buck at Redbox to rent you the whole season DVD?" I laughed. "I'll risk it."

So we all headed out to Danny's house so his older brother, Cam, could drop us off.

We all piled into Cam's old beat up BMW (which he acted like it was still sparkling clean. He called it 'Benny the Beemer').

After Cam droped us off, we gave the tickets at the ticketbooth and headed inside.

"God, it is cr_owwwwwww_ded in here." Billy said, putting his arm around me. Casey looked at us weirdly, and I shoved off his arm. "Stop being embarrassing and watch," I said, as the lead singer with purple spiked hair came on stage with his band behind him. I swear, they should've been named NeonDy 'cause their hair was just _crazy. _

Anyways, we're all kinda getting into the concert. The lead singer, Xeslie (it was probably Leslie before the band), said, "Hey everyone! Thanks for coming, but not for the memories 'cause that's Fall Out Boy and they're OUT and we're IN!" the crowd cheered.

"Way to be bigheaded." Casey mutters next to me.

I laughed. "You mean neon-headed?" I asked.

He laughed out loud. "Yeah..." he said, taking my hand. But he didn't look too much into the concert... He looked liked he was thinking about something different.

The song began soon, and it was called "Later, Lover". It was a fast-paced song about saying, well, Later, person-who-I-used-to-love-but-can't-seem-to-let-me-go.

"_You wrote me love notes and signed off with a heart, "_

I turned to ask Marissa is she was having fun, but she was a couple people away from me, laughing with Danny. I sighed. And Billy was somewhere in the front, acting drunk. That left me alone with...

"_But baby, texting is in so that was the end of the start."_

I faced Casey, who had let go of my hand. "Having fun?" I asked.

He grinned. "Why wouldn't I? You're here."

My heart stoped for a second or two. I finally managed to smile and say, "Great." I quickly turned back to the concert.

"_But now here's an awkward moment to stand in... You're still holding my hand wasn't that forBIDDENNNNNN?"_

Was it _forbidden _for Casey to hold my hand because of our parents?

"_And so I pull away to sayyyyy..._

_LATER LOVER, MY HEART GOES TO ANOTHER, LATER LOVER, I'D RATHER KISS MY MOTHER. LATER LOVER, GO FIND ANOTHER GUY TO SMOTHER, LATER LOVER, LATER LOVER!"_

Ouch! Rather kiss my mother? Another guy to smother? These were cruel ways to say, I don't like you anymore to a guy.

NeonDy sang some more, then sang the harsh chorus some more, then finished up the song. Casey turned to me. "I...uh..." he didn't say anything.

"Yeah?" I asked. But another song started up so we both turned to it.

"This one's called "Speechless"...it's kinda slow but we'll fasten things up a bit afterwards."

The crowd cheered but queited down (a bit).

"_Things I'll always remember about you...if just the one thing you don't know that you do..."_

_"You bring me CLOSER and closer and make me act like a fool...but sometimes I wonder am I a tool... Or are you?"_

Casey took my hand, gently squeezing it so the insides of my fingertips felt electrified- the shock went up and down my body.

But I liked it.

_"So please tell me, clearly, when I wanna say I miss you why do I leave-out a part of me? I'm speechless around you, can't you see?"_

Casey turned to me. It seemed like we were the only people on Earth right now because of the way he stared into my eyes.

"Sammy...just for the couple weeks I didn't see you...I...missed you."

I smiled. He took my other hand.

"So did I." I said. "and thanks, Casey, for saying that."

The song "Spechless" must have been short because it quickly ended.

"AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE SONG CALLED 'WE GOT IT OVER WITH!'" Xeslie said.

Casey grinned at me, and I grinned back, like we were both thinking the same thing.

But even though we _were, _ I said, "_Now _let's have fun!" and we began dancing like idiots.

Because that's what we were. Idiots. Two idiots who had totally fallen for each other.


	2. Strangely Enough

I looked at the band-Sweetrubbish-playing. A song called "We Got it Over With".

_**"So many people dancedance like they've never!"**_

By now Casey and I had stopped dancing like two dorks and were just talking and laughing like two _friends _should...but like I said before. We both knew that we _both _knew that we wanted to be more than friends...

Although I don't think I'd ever admit it.

But maybe I would. I never know.

**"**_**But I just wanna dancedance with you forever!"**_

"Sammy!" Casey cried out. "what the fr-"

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Did you _know?" _he snaps.

"Know what?" I ask. What was _wrong?_

"They...our parents are _here!"_

"Oh-my-" I looked to where Casey was pointing.

_**"And so I took it by surprise... I'm still loving you dancedance all night...!"**_

"Why is my _mom _here?" I murmured. "Out of _all_ the people in the world...my mom..a rock band.."

Casey took my hand and led me to them.

But then he let go.

_**"And you let go when you're not alone...dancedance with me or just go home!"**_

Casey said, "Dad?"

Warren turned to stare at Casey with surprised eyes. "Casey and...oh..."

My mom said to me, "Why are you _here?" _

"Um...because Marissa and I won tickets and decided to, I dunno, _**use **_them?"

"But..." my mother stammered.

_**"'Cause baby we dancedanced until we had to sit! COME ON COME ON AT LEAST WE GOT IT OVER WITH! NO ONE EVEN FREAKING CARES-IF YOU DANCE OR SIT OR STARE! I thought it was chemistry...but it was our bodies with the beat...we got it over WITH!" **_

"Dad...why are you here? You _knew _I'd be here..."

"Casey...I had boughten tickets way before you told me you were coming...Lana said she kind of liked rock music so..."

"Liar." I coughed.

Lana glared at me. But she did not say anything.

Anything.

She just glared...but it softened down quickly to just a look saying, 'I know you like him but I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "It's not okay." I whispered. I turned to Casey. "C'mon. Marissa's probably wondering where we are."

Warren called out, "Wait, Casey!"

Casey turneed to Warren. "What?"

"Casey... I'm sorry. But you'll have to risk some things in order for me and Lana to date..."

Casey said something, something like, "Like what?" and he said some other things but I didn't hear.

Casey turned to go but turned back for a second and said, "Yeah, actually, I did risk a couple things...because of you.. But you're risking something, too."

"What?" Warren asled, confused.

"Our friendship, Dad." Casey said. "I don't think I can even talk to you without a feeling of disgust."

"Casey!"

But Casey grabbed my arm and pulled me away. When he let me go, I asked, "What did you say to your dad?"

He looked me in the eyes. "Sammy...it's not important, okay?" he paused and sighed. "Just...have fun."

"Too late for that." I said with a weak smile. "What_ever._"

"And now for a song we call 'With Your Tears'!"

**"**_**Call me text me make me feel worse all riiiiight...**_**"**

I looked up at Casey. "I asked you to come because I thought it would be fun...I...I was wrong. _Again, _I mess everything up."

**"**_**And when you kiss me guilt takes over just fiiiiiine.."**_

Casey looked like he'd just been punched. "Did I make you feel like I wasn't having fun?"

"N-no...but..."

He tilts my chin up so I can look him in the eyes. "I'm having fun...I love being with you...and...and my friends..."

"I know that." I said, staring up at the ceiling.

**"**_**So why do I feel like you love me so much? Because baby I definetly don't have a thing going for you..."**_

Casey looks up at the ceiling, too, and we both look, wondering why our lives suck like this.

**"**_**I take your heart but it fell to the dirt, there are your tears all over my shirt, I dry my shirt dry my shirt with you tears, sadness is one of my biggest fears!"**_

Casey looks back at me. "God. I feel so lame. Like I'm stuck in some weird..."

But he didn't finish his sentence.

Xeslie screamed into the mic when he was all done. "ARRRRRRE YOUUUUU REAAAAAADDDDDYYYYY?"

The crowd screamed, "Yyyyyyyyyeah!"

"Now we want _**EVERYONE **_to sing along!" Xeslie screamed. "My quitarist is gonna sing this with me, c'mon, Xen!" (Ben?)

Casey said, "C'mon, Sammy, forget everything that upsets you right now...and have fun."

"THIS ONE'S CALLED 'YOU BUT NOT WHO YOU ARE'!"

Marissa and Danny fought their way through the crowd. "This is great! I'm having so much fun!" she

Yelled while the song started.

"That makes one of us." I muttered.

The opening chorus started, **"One day I see your face, I'm smilin', pickin' up my pace! The next day I HATE YOU hate you- hate your WAYS!"**

**"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOURSELLLLF? PLASTIC SURGERY? WHAT HAS IS DONNNE TO YOU? DESTROYED YOUR PERSONALITY!"**

**"'CAUSE GIRLS CAN BE CRUEL BUT YOU TOTALLY BROKE THE RULE! SUCH NASTY, SUCH FREAKS LIKKKKE YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST!"**

Now, regularly, songs like this freak people out, but 'apparently', according to Sweetrubbish's Twitter fans, they totally understand this song. So it kinda became a hit and they have a whole music video with Megan Fox in it. I don't know why her, but she agreed to it. She does look like she has a stick up her butt, though, so she's perfect for it.

Billy showed up sometime during the song and was dancing along with the rest of the crowd, and Marissa and Danny. I just felt like whatever I did, my mood would not change. Besides...my MOM was rocking out, too, with Casey's dad somehwere. That information alone was just enough to make me puke.

My mom, being my mom and all, should have passed out the by the large crowd and loud music or something by now.

**"THIS CRUELLLNESSSS HAS GOT TO END WE KNOW YOU FREAKS ARE CRAZY BUT,"**

**"YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT STICKS AND STONES AND STICKS AND STONES MIGHT BREAKKK MYYY BONES! GIRL YOU'VE GOT A LOT GOING ON, BUT IF YOU WEREN'T MESSED UP WHY WOULD I WRITE THIS SONG? ONLY FREAKS LIKE YOU UNDERTSAAAA AAAAHHHHND!"**

**"YOU THINK YOU KNOW BUT I'M NOT THAT SLOW I'VE FIGURED YOU OUT AND HOW YOU WORK! BUT ONLY FREAKS LIKE YOU WOULD KNOW! SUCHHH A JERRRRK! YOU BUT NOT.. YOU BUT NOT! YOU BUT NOT WHO YOU THINK YOU ARRRRRRRRRRRE! YOU BUT NOT WHO YOU ARE!"**

I listened to the ending chorus. That song was too harsh for my own good. All of a sudden I felt this horrible warmth up and down my whole body.

A slow song called, 'Speak' started. No, not Lindsay Lohan's 'Speak'.

**"You walk one way...but that's not the truth, because I can see inside of you.."**

Casey awkwardly took my hand.

I looked at him, but I could not think straight. So much confusion in one night. I didn't know whether to feel happy or upset.

**"You walk another way, but that's still not right..for you there's more than meets the eye.."**

I could feel myself lose all of my thoughts. My mind blanked out and I couldn't see anything. I felt like I was just going to pass out right now and never wake up. I could practically see my life flash before my eyes.

I did see my life flash before me. I saw myself as a kid. As a kid looking through photos in my mom's room. One's that I had found under the bed.

I remember that day. I had flipped through. There were so many pictures with my mom...and some guy with purple Sharpie scribbled all over his face so I could not see him.

And I had no clue who he was. I didn't even wonder why he was Sharpie'd.

But now I remember. DUh. He was my dad. And now my mom was dating again and I could possibly have another one. And I can't believe I'm actually thinking this, but I never want to know who my real dad is, if my mom re-marries.

If she WAS married before.

**"You tell me one thing, but I can just tell, there's someone inside of you waiting to speak for itself."**

"Sammy? Are you okay?" Casey asked me. He put his arm around me because I was probably barely standing by myself anyways.

"No." I said, shaking my head.

Casey whispered, "Let's get out of here."

Casey started to lead me to the back. "Can we get outta here?" Casey asked the gaurds.

They nodded and opened the door for us. The whole parking lot was empty of people. Casey led to me to a nearby field. We sat under by a tree and I said, "I have a killer headache."

He nodded. "Sammy..there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I mean...I want to tell you but I don't want you to think.."

"Think what?" I asked. I turned my head to look at the tree next to us. I didn't want to look at his face because I knw how uncomfortable he must've felt.

But I could'n't help it. I looked up at him, into his eyes. He looked into mine, as well.

Then he laughed. "Should I just say it? This is crazy!"

I nodded, adding a laugh of my own.

He stopped laughing for a second to say, "You have a cute laugh."

What was I supposed to say? 'So do you'? Are you kidding me? "Th-thanks.."

He sighed. "I kind of want to be more than your friend, Sammy."

"More than my-"

"Yeah. I dunno. It's weird. I can't really explain it."

"Try." I urged.

He shook his head. "I can't."

"_Try._"

"Okay okay. I sort of likeyoumorethanafriend and I don't know if you feelthesameway."

I paused. "I do. But I guess you're right. It's hard to explain."

"Can we discuss this later? When our parents aren't in the building next to us?" he asked.

"Good idea." I stated.

"C'mon. Let's go inside."

We showed the guard our stamped tickets (with today's date) again, and headed back inside.

**"You're heart speaks for you while we kiss, I cannot forget about this, we're all expecting the truth now and then, so when will you tell me you love me? When?"**


	3. Pizza and Movies

After the concert was over, me and Casey didn't speak a lot. In fact, I was beginning to feel like Jacob now, because of how much attention Casey gave me. When we all crammed into Benny the Beemer to go home (Casey's dad didn't offer any of us for a ride yet alone Casey. Nice, huh?), Casey sat at the far end (well, as far as a beat up BMW could get, width-wise). Then Marissa offered us if we wanted to go to her house for the rest of the night (which basically meant the rest of the night and morning, staying up all night since we weren't tired at all and it was freaking twelve twenty nine in the morning anyways, which technically meant only the morning).

So we were all droped off at Marissa's house. Whoopee. Now I would have to face more Casey.

Trust me, we weren't gonna do any window oiling or spider-monkeying at all. We were not going to follow each other everywhere and try to switch schools or classes to fit each other...we were _totally_ not Edward and Bella-ing.

In fact, we weren't even close! We were probably...

Jessica and Edwarding right now! We weren't even looking at each other.

Okay, no more Twilight for me, right? I didn't even

_want _to read it...someone named Marissa McConvince did.

Anyways, we all jammed inside her home. No, not jammed as in crammed-and-squeezed. We jammed as in _spreading-like-jam-on-a-realllllyy -big-piece-of-bread._

Marissa pulled me aside, "Sammy! What happened with you and Casey?"

"Nothing!" I said. "We did _not _pull an Edward and Bella!"

Marissa looked excited yet knowing. "You need to talk to someone?" she asked sarcastically.

I stomped into the room where everyone was. "How'd you know?" I asked.

"Lucky guess."

Then she evily stretched out and said, "So guys...wanna watch Edward and Bella?"

"_What?" _Casey asked a little too frantically.

"Oops-I meant _Twilight."_

"Ew, no. Not that movie about a vampire who looks like he's on drugs that catches the eye of a girl from Arizona so they hang out even though he constantly says he's dangerous for her but then constanstly tells her 'you are my life' and then the girl almost gets killed and the the vampire and his family save her? No way! I've never watched or read that and I never will." **(ennnnd offff Twilliiiight!)**

We all stared at him. "What about Transformers?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Yeah," everybody gets up and starts to chatter at once. We've all watched it but it won't hurt to see it again, right?

Okay, wrong. Marissa was talking to Danny wayyyyy too much and Billy was talking to me wayyyy too much. The movie was just abackground noise.

Billy finally asked me something he'd ben hinting for a while, "Wanna play Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," I said, "No."

"Aww come onnnnnn."

Casey shrugged. "Fine."

Billy turned to me, "You first- dare."

"Uhhhh. Okay." I said.

"Go outside and scream, I LOVE BILLY PRATT! To the world.

"NO." I said, "Are you freaking NUTS?"

"No, I'm allergic." he said.

"Don't wanna be a cannibal." I muttered.

"C'mon, Sam."

"Don't call me that. And no."

"Ohh." he looked at Casey. "Then scream I LOVE CASEY ACOSTA instead, okay?"

I stared at him for a second before saying a stupid,"What."

"Cas-"

"No. What did _Marissa _ just say?"

Marissa turns to look at me. "I ordered pizza?"

"From where." I said-it wasn't a question.

"Pizza Hut?" she asks, awkwardly.

**A/N: MY FIRST FREAKING APPEARANCE! WHOOO. BUT I'M NOT REALLY A PIZZA GIRL. I actually sort of hate any pizza but ones with jalepinos on it. Alrighty, on wit thee story.**

"You mean Lolah's coming?"

**AN: I don't even really act like this at all. The lola in the story is way different.**

"Oh no!" Marissa gasped. "Not her!"

"What's wrong with her?" Casey asked.

"She's..." Marissa started. "Too beautiful."

**Change of plans. I'm JUST like her! Haha...jk.**

**Not really, no. *serious but beautiful face***

"Really?" Billy asked. "Is she really?"

"Well, no. Well, yes. She's just the type of person who will be obeyed when commanded." I said.

"And she's a freshman." Marissa added.

"Oh really?" Casey asked. "From what school?"

"A different one."

_DIng dong._

I get up and open the door. There she was with her too-good-to-be-true blonde hair and stoplight green eyes. She stood there, holding out the pizza with a dazzling smile as if she hoped a guy would open the door.

"Oh hey Lolah." I grimace.

"Hey." she nudges the pizza a little forward and flips her shoulder length glossy hair over her shoulder. "I see you have visitors." she said, peering over my shoulder.

I was about to say, Like me? But Billy shoved me aside. "I'm Billy." he grinned, probably thinking he was being cute. Or something.

Poor Billy. Someone has to tell him the truth someday..the only girl that will ever kiss him...wil be a soon-to-be-suicidal girl. And his mom.

"Yyyyeah." Lolah looks him up and down, from his blonde hair to blue eyes to his "My sister did" it t shirt. (hate those). Then she looked down at his hot pink Vans. "Aren't those for girls" she asks.

"No." Billy says. "But _thissss _is." he points to himself.

Lolah wrinkles her nose. "Yeah...I don't really like blondes..."

He raises his hands up like, What the frick, _she's blonde!_ But we all just shrug and give him a look like, That's the only nice way t reject you, Billy.

Then Danny says, much to Marisa's dismay, "_I-_-"

Lolah holds up her hand. "Hey. A poem for you."

Danny raises his eyebrows like, A poem? Huh?

I whisper, "She's going to pwn you. Beware."

"I'm not very fond of blonde-guys.

But other's interest me, too."

Danny raised his head and smirkingly nodded to us all. Marissa took a few steps back before she burst into tears and the rest of us rolled our eyes.

"Other's interest me, too.." she repeated, looking for a ryhme.

"Oh!

Other's interest me, too

'Cause _I _am a _girl_

So. What. Are. _You?" _she asks with a disgusted voice.

"Excuse me?" he asks.

But Lolah turns to Casey, "Oh but _you-you _are just _cuh-yoot!"_

"Here's your money!" I toss it to her and slam the door on her stupid beautiful face.

Casey blinks then says. "Does that girl seriously diss every guy who opens the door?"

"Uhm. If he tries to hit on her, yeah." I nod.

"And the thing it," Marisa says, "You never wanna slam the door on her face. She has that aura."

"Well, _Sammy_ did. Right when she said Casey was-" I threw a paper plate at him. It didn't really hit him if you know what I mean but he shut up.

"Moving on." I say, not taking a slice."Who likes movies?"

Everyone just stares. Like, Did you just seriously ask that?

"Um...Disturbia?" I ask.

"Noo!" Marisa squeals.

"Oh, puhhh leaaaase." I say. "There's Shia Labouef in in. Shia La_freaking_bouef!"

**A/n: SPelling correct in his name, guys? Dunno..**

"I mean how can you take that guy seriously for a thriller movie?" I ask. "he was in _Holes! _And...and...thag Disney Channel _golfing movie! _Freaking _golfing!"_

I throw my hands up in the air. "Whatever. What about When a Stranger Calls?" I ask. "With Camilla Belle?"

Marissa says, "No scary movies!"

Billy pipes up with, "We'll watch a scary movie. And then a funny one right after?"

"Like what?" Casey snaps. "The only movie you ever wanna watch it _Legally Blonde!_"

"But she's _hot!"_ Billy says.

"Correction." I say. "Reese Witherspoon is way older than you and taken."

"Crap." Billy says. "Now it's Hayden Panattiere. _Bring it on, Hayden!"_

"Oh, god!" Marissa cries out. "Let's just watch _Jumper. _" she gets up and starts to click on Jumper of her tv.

"No! Don't pay for it yet!" Billy says.

"What?" Marissa asks, already in a bad mood because of Lolah.

"What about _Push? _Or _Eagle Eye?" _Danny asks.

"Let's just watch _Eagle Eye._" say. "I've the other wayyy to many times."

"And how many times have you seen _Eagle Eye?"_

"Two." I said. "See? Not too many."

So Marissa buys it on On Demand and while it plays, I can feel myself feel dizzy. I think is was just the concert. "I'll be right back." I say as I go upstairs to Marissa's room where my stuff is. I could hear my empty stomach.

I only ate breakfast today. I remember, and nothing else.

Then I feel myself feel really...sick.

I ran to the bathroom and locked the door. I didn't feel good. I felt like even though Casey and I had admitted all that...it still brought us nowhere. And that made me feel even more emptier. There was nothing in the world that could fill this horrible aching emptiness right now but for things to stop being awkward and weird with us.

And food, too. But that was just hunger emptiness.

The other was Me Emptiness.

I could feel it- I bent over the toilet and puked my guts out.

But it was nothing I was throwing up.

It was emptiness.

What did I have to lose now? Now even emptiness.

There was no real feeling inside of me right now.


	4. Basketball, Benches, and Boys

When I went back down to Marissa's living room, everyone was gone. So I checked outside 'cause they definetly weren't upstairs. Marissa was outside sitting on a bench with Casey. Danny and Billy were playing basketball on the court.

"Sammy! Where were you!"

"Um. I fell. Asleep."

"You fell asleep?"

"No, I, uh...wanted to go to sleep."

"So?"

"So I. Went upstairs. And read."

"My book room is downstairs." said Marissa.

"I read my. Thoughts." I said, stupidly.

"So basically you just went upstairs to think?"

"Yeah, 'cause Billy was being annoying."

All three of us were silent.

Casey said, "Are you okay?"

I didn't answer with words, I nodded.

Casey got up. "I should go home now." he said.

"Whyyyy?" Billy asked, throwing the ball to the hoop and missing. "Don't! I'll be stuck with Mister Ego!"

Danny threw a ball at Billy's head, but also missed.

I laughed. "You guys have horrible aim."

Billy muttered, "I bet your's isn't any better."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, picking up a basketball from the ground. The bench was even further than the shooting line, but I threw it and it went in perfectly. "That doesn't mean I'm good at playing. It just means _you _guys have horrible aim."

"How upsetting." Billy said with a pout.

Danny rolled his eyes at me, "You've got to be kidding me," he said, picking up the ball.

He shot it.

It missed.

Casey laughed. "Sammy's right."

Marissa said, "Lemme try!" so Danny gave her the ball, but she missed.

"Whatever." she said. "I don't even care about basketball anyways." she smiled good naturedly. Marissa was a good sport.

"Let's play a game!" Billy said. "Me and Casey are on a team!"

Marssa backed off. "Not me! I'm not playing!"

"I don't want to either."

Neither did Danny, but we could tell he was afraid of losing. So it was Casey _against_ Billy.

Marissa went inside to get water.

Danny turned to talk to me. "You look cute." he grinned.

I looked at him weirdly. "Okay. Thanks." I said, creeped out.

I saw Casey stop for a second to stare at us.

Billy got the ball from him. "Hah!" he sneered. Casey shook his head as if, "I didn't hear that." and chased after Billy.

Danny put his arm around my waist.

I pulled it off.

He turned to look at me. "You're even cuter than Jenny."

"Who's Jenny?" I asked, confused.

"You don't _know_?" he asked all innocently.

"No." I said, getting even more confused. Should I know already?

"She's..." he leaned in closer amd whispered, "the girl Casey likes."

I brushed his hands off my waist and said, "Liar."

"No. _He's _the liar. He lies to every girl he meets. Says he likes them but he really _only _likes _Jen-ny."_

"Um, no he doesn't."

Danny grabbed my face. "Yes, he _does!_ And can't you get the hint?"

"_Wh-what?" _ I snapped.

"I _like you." _he whispered, and kissed me.

"DANNY!" I could hear Casey's voice.

I shoved Danny off me. "What the hell?" I snapped.

"Sammy. I. Can't. Believe."

I turned around to see Marissa drop her glass. It broke into a million pieces. Probably like her heart.


	5. Awkward

For a few seconds, all that could escape from my mouth was, "I-I-" because I had a million things to say right now, all of which starting with "I". So instead, what came out of my mouth was the stupidest thing you could ever imagine: "I'm so confused."

Casey isn't looking to happy, and Marissa looks like she just needs time alone.

And Danny has one hand on my shoulder and the other around my waist.

I pulled away and said, "Can you explain to me why,..." but I didn't finish because he leaned in _again_ to kiss me, in which my immediete response was to shove him back. "Stop!" I said, which finally caught his attention.

He looked up at me, in the eyes, andI fought the strong urge to slap him in the face. "What-Why-"

Then Casey spoke up, "Danny." he said in a low voice. "It's actually really rude to try to kiss a girl when she doesn't want to be kissed."

"Since when," Danny sneered, "did _you_ care about being rude, Casey?"

"Since the day I decided I _wouldn't _kiss a girl if she didn't want to, even if I really liked her."

That made Danny mad. Marissa was still just _watching. _So was Billy.

And then Danny attacked..

Okay, maybe not, he just sort of grabbed my arm aggresively, and then pulled me towards him.

"She..._wanted _to..kiss..me." he said between long, psychotic, deep, choppy breaths. "She..._likes_...me."

Was this guy insane?

I tried to pull away but me shoved me against the brick wall instead. I could feel pain at the back of my head, and I felt dizzy and lightheaded for a moment.

Casey stepped forward, and then Danny turned towards me and shoved me harder, pressing up against me. "Isn't that..._right?"_

"No," I said. "let me go, you freak."

He laughed, and said, "I'll _hurt _you if you don't say-"

"Stop." Marissa cut in. Her voice was full of hurt and anger. Did she finally realize what a freak Danny was?

Apparently not, because what she said next was, "Whatever you want to do to her, don't do it on my property." and she pointed towards the gate to the front.

But Danny didn't leave. Instead he leaned really close to me and said, "Lets see if your Prince Charming Casey can get you out of this." and then, _literally_ grabs my arm and twists it around so I can feel the electrifying pain shooting up and down my arm and wrists and hands and fingers and fingertips and shoulders. I screamed and felt half of my body numb out and then he shoved me against my shoulder and his lips crashed down on mine, making my _lips _and tongue feel numb as well. He pressed his hand against my face and then when I shoved away, he groaned and said, "What? Is it not enough-" he shoved me to the ground.

And then Casey sort of came out of nowhere and shoved Danny aside, and bent down, "Are you okay?"

But Danny staggered back when Billy just threw the ball at him. It was sort of random, but useful. It hit Danny, alright, and Danny doubled over while moaning.

I turned back to Casey, "No... I can't feel anything."

Casey took my limp arm in his wrist. "It could be worse. But he technically just assaulted you..."

"R-right.." what was I supposed to say?

Casey put his arm around my waist and lifted me so was in his lap. "Tell me what else hurts." he spoke to me as if no one else was here.

But it was the undeniable truth, an inevitable fact: people _were _still here, and Danny was, too.

And he didn't give up easily. He shoved me away from Casey and grabbed my limp arm so hard it just numbed out all over again. I was on the ground and he was hovering over me, and there was nothing I could do about it. His bent over me, digging his knee into my stomach so I couldn't speak and then Marissa chokedout, "I-I'll... Stop it! Stop, or I'll... Call the police." She disappeared and quickly returned with a phone.

Danny finally got off ofme, and Casey came towards me but gave Danny such a hard shove that he went stumbling back and fell back.

Casey leaned over me. "Sammy?"

"What?"

"You're not okay." he said, his voice full of concern.

"I know."

"We need to take you to a hospital."

"I'm fine. My arm will get better and the rest will just be bruises..I guess." yeah, I'd get better except for the fact that now I am traumatized for life.

Casey picked me up with no effort. Was this why Danny could shove me around so easily?

But that didn't matter. What mattered was that I was in his arms at the moment, so I wrapped my arm around his and dug my face into his chest.

"We'll be leaving." he told Marissa. Then he whispered to me, "Go to sleep."

So I fell asleep right there, in Casey's arms.

I woke up in a bed. Well, that was good at least. But the room was unrecognizable. The blanket was plain navy-blue and the walls were white. It had a simple computer, a desk, and some posters of sports stars and Chuck Norris and random guy stuff like that. Where was I?

"Are you awake?" I heard, and I jumped. It was Casey. Was this his room? He had just walked in.

"How did I get here?" I asked.

"... My dad knows some guy who lives on this street who's a doctor so, as you can see, he wrapped up your arm. And as for the getting here... I called my dad and he picked us up."

"What about..."

"Your mom? Dad decided not to tell her yet. He wants you to tell her."

"Oh." I said. And then I added, "Doesn't your dad think its weird of me being here...? Because... You're a guy and I'm a girl...?"

He sighed. "No. Because technically, to him, you're my 'sister'."

"_What!" _I cried out. "But there not even, like, married.."

"Yeah. I know."

Silence.

"But," Casey added, "The whole thing will blow over soon enough. They'll break up..."

"But they're not even 'together'!" I said, "...Are they?"

Casey shrugged.

I sat up and shrugged the blanket off me, to find myself wearing guy shorts.

Wasn't I wearing jeans before?

Uh...

"Um.." I said.

He looked away for a moment.

"I don't wanna-"

"Don't." he said. "Don't even ask."

"But-"

"Don't."

"Seriously."

He sighed, "Your jeans were ripped, and besides, how uncomfortable would it be to sleep with them on?"

"But how did you..." How did he _change _them? And I added, "Am I really that much a heavy sleeper?"

He laughed, then blushed. "I had to change them... But! But I didn't look, I swear. I swear to God I would never-"

HE WHAT?

I didn't even want to think about it.

But he sounded sincere. He really _hadn't _looked.

"Okay! Okay, I believe you. I'm your sister, remember? We always believe each other."

"You're not my sister."

"I know."

"I don't want you to be."

"Me neither."

We were silent for a moment and then he casually stated, "You're cute when you sleep. And you never wake up. It's...cute."

He called me cute? Two times?

"And when I changed you-"

"-Don't even-" I warned.

"'Kay." he said.

"So..." awkward silence. And then I said, "So.. This is your room, huh?"

"Yep."

"So where's the Megan Fox poster? Doesn't every guy have one with her on it?"

"Not me.." he said.

"You don't think she's hot?"

He shrugged, "Well yeah, I can't say she's not... Every guy can't say she's not, she's pretty and all but its different for a guy who's in lov-"

In love?

"What?" I asked. "In... In _love?"_

"I didn't say that."

"It sounded like it."

"Well I didn't _say _say it."

"Who is she?" I asked, my heart burning in jealousy.

"I can't say." he admitted. My whole body tingled and I wanted to cry. He _loved _someone else. So _I _was just his normal _friend._ I lie bac down on the bed so my tears can dissolve back into my eyes.

"Oh... Okay."

"So..do _you _like anyone?"

"This is a really weird conversation."

"Well.. Its just friend-to-friend talking."

"Mm Hmm.."

"Do you?" he asked again.

I couldn't answer to that. _Yeah, Casey, I like YOU but you like some other girl. And Danny likes me. Like I want to be liked by Danny. Whoopee. _

"I can't say." I said, copying him. He eyes me and sort of smiled. So did I.

"Go back to sleep," he said all of a sudden, "It' 2 am."

"Where do _you_ stay?"

"Believe me... I stay nearby."

"Oh."

"Did I tell you that you're cute when you sleep?"

"Yes..." I blushed, and I was just going to say something when he put a finger to my lips and said queitly, "Shh, Sammy. Go to sleep. You can call whoever you want in the morning, okay? Just relax... And sleep."

So, I did.


	6. What's the Word?

In the morning, my whole body felt flushed and hot. I felt so ridiculously embarassed I didn't know what to do. Do you know that feeling when you're doing something at the moment everything seems fine and okay, and what you're doing is so daring and different but you still do it because of... adrenaline? And then the next day, you wake up and all of a sudden you regret everything you might have done and said and don't want to face anyone ever again?

That's how I feel right now.

I absolutely regretted talking to Casey like that.. Telling him such important things. And hearing that he liked someone else. I didn't want to face him again.

Well yeah, I did want to see him. Badly, too. I began to realize that there was something about him that _made _me want to see him.

Even when I _didn't _want to see him, I _did _want to see him.

Some people would say puberty.

I say its injustice. We have come to the day where our _feelings _control our feelings.

The door opened, and Casey stepped in. "Sammy?" he said, softly.

Why did I want to hear his voice more? Why did he have to have that voice? I couldn't explain it, it was just so _Casey. _

"Are you awake?" he asked.

I sat up. "Yeah." I said, sucking in my breath because he looked even better in the morning. Was that possible?

He sat down on the foot of the bed. "Want to eat something?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." I said. He just sort of looked at me for a minute, but I couldn't read his expression. "Then do you want to call someone?"

Yes, I wanted to talk to Hudson, Grams, Marissa, _Grams. _But I mostly wanted to talk to Casey himself, so I said, "It's fine. I'll wait 'til I leave. Besides, my mom wouldn't care."

"Oh." he said. Silence, then, "And do you want my dad to-" he stopped. "Never mind."

"What?"

"I was going to say drive you home, but obviously he can't."

"Oh, right." I said, then I added, "Listen, Casey. I want to know what happened with Danny before you brought me here. I don't remember."

"Marissa kicked him out."

"_What?" _I asked, not believing my ears.

"Yeah, when you fell asleep, Marissa told him to get the hell out of her house before she called the cops, or worse, her parents." then he added, "She said it, not me."

"Wow.." I said.

"What a shame, too. You could obviously tell she liked him."

"Yeah."

"He liked _you_."

"Yeah."

"What an ass-" he stopped. "What a jerk."

I sort of snickered. "And Billy?"

"He helped Marissa clean up the glass and left home."

"Oh." I said. That's it, Oh.

"He's a great guy, you know. He can be really serious when he needs to." Casey said.

"I wouldn't know." I laughed. He laughed, too.

"Sammy?"

"Yeah?"

"You're also a great person."

My heart stopped for about ten full seconds (and two milliseconds). "I'm-"

"Yeah. You're... I don't know, different from most girls. I like down-to-earth girls."

"So that girl you said you liked last night is down to earth?"

"What?" he asked, confused.

"The girl you like?"

"What girl-? Ohhh." he laughed. Then he laughed again. Then he turned to face me and tilted up my chin to look up to his face. He leaned forward so he was only, like three inches away from my face. "Yeah, you're pretty down to earth."

"What?" I asked in a muffled voice.

"Down. To. Earth. You're down to earth."

"I'm asking if the girl you _like _is down to earth."

"Yeah, you are." he said again, a small smile on his face.

"Wh- Ohhh! Oh, so _I'm _that girl?" I asked, my face blushed like crazy and my heart beat ten times faster. "I- wow."

We just sat there for a moment, then he said, "I thought you knew."

"I'm just too slow."

"But wait." Casey said, "Didn't I already tell you at the concert?"

Oh, yeah. I remember later feeling doubtful and thinking he lied to me just because he felt bad.. Or something.

"Yeah, I remember. But I didn't feel like you were telling me the truth."

"What do I need to do to make you believe me?" his voice was full of hurt.

"No, its not like that, Casey, really." I protested. "I don't know. Like I said, I'm slow."

His hurt immedietly faded away. "You're not slow."

"Yea-"

"Shh!" he said, he put his finger to my lips. "Let's get downstairs and eat. I think my dad is sleeping, I can leave a note saying I'm walking you home and we could slip away without any questions from him."

"Okay." I said, "Sounds like a plan." he took my hand but right when I stepped off the bed, I realized I couldn't go out with _his _shorts on.

"Um," I mumbled.

"Oh! Right. I-" he began, but I bent down and picked up my jeans off the floor. "It's fine. But I want to change alone this time."

"Right.." he said, turning red, and I felt bad for saying that, so I said, "Wait for me downstairs, I'll hurry. It's a long walk home for me."

He ran his hand through his hair and nodded, "Okay. See you." and he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

And right when he left, I felt the sudden urge to need to see him again, right away...

It was a weird feeling. It made my stomach turn and my face burn (out of happiness).

So what was it called?

**V V V CLICK BUTTON BELOW=) V V V**


	7. Seven Things

**Chapter 7**

**Seven Things**

I rushed downstairs because I didn't want Casey's dad coming down and asking questions on where I live and stuff. Who knows what lies mom told him about me? If my lies were totally different, I'd be caught in a second. Casey was there, and when I entered he looked up. "Do you want to eat something?"

"No thanks." I said, because I really wasn't hungry.

"C'mon, just eat."

"I'm not hungry, and besides, I gotta get out of here."

"Right right." he sighed. He hopped up from his chair and led me outside. The last time I had been here, I had left because I was mad at him. I wasn't now. Things were were totally different now.

1) I has NO CLUE why his dad would allow me to stay here and 2) Actually, I _do _have an idea why he'd allow me- because he's dating my mom so he might think "it's safe" or "okay" or something.

"This'll be a long walk." he said, because I didn't have my skateboard.

"Sorry. You can stay, you know."

"Nah. I'd rather get out of the house."

"Oh." I said. "That's cool."

We began to walk. We were silent for the longest time. And then Casey stopped and said, "Hey, what's that?" he pointed to a newspaper clipping and picked it up. It read,

_Santa Martina Serial Killer_

_There have been a series of several murders this past month in several areas of Santa Martina. Seven murdered victims were found, the first one took place August 7th to a young woman names Leah Cerney. Cerney was killed by being stabbed seven times. Another victim, Dempsey Dalilah was killed by being shot seven times. The other five victims, Cassie Wagner, Alicia Charles, Austin Jacobs, Martin Ferrari and Samantha Morano, were also killed by violent murder weapons. Each victim was either shot, beaten, raped, stabbed, or bludgeoned seven times. Below is a list of the victims, their ages and how they were murdered._

_Leah Cerney, female, 14- stabbed to death (7X)_

_Dempsey Dalilah, male, 21- shot to death (7X)_

_Cassie Wagner, female, 19- stabbed to death (7X)_

_Samantha Morano, female, 17- raped (7X)_

_Austin Jacobs, male, 22- bludgeoned (7X)_

_Alicia Charles, female, 27- shot to death (7X)_

_Martin Ferrari, male, 19- beaten to death (7X)_

_There are currently DNA tests running for the horrible murderer. Police are using the information they could find from Morano's death much to their advantage. Be careful, Santa Martina._

_Reported by Delanie McDevan_

"Wow," Casey muttered, "that's weird."

"Yeah," I said, "And why seven times each? Notice, the first murder was on the seventh of August. Today is the thirteenth. That was six days ago. If he killed Leah on the first day, Dempsey on the second, Cassie on the third, Samantha on the fifth and so on, that would be seven victims, one victim killed each day."

"Right. But also, it doesn't say anywhere that each of the seven victims were killed one per day."

"I know, I was just... Thinking." I stated.

He sort of laughed. "Do you always get tangled up in these crazy messes? Because this one is really serious, and you could end up dying, so don't."

"I won't..." I said.

"Promise." he told me.

"Promise." I mumbled.

"Look at me in the eyes and say it."

I turned my head up so I could look him directly in the eyes. "Promise." I said more fiercely now.

He laughed. "I believe you now."

Casey folded up the article and put it in his pocket. "But.. I won't stop you from thinking about it."

"Good." I said, "Because I wouldn't have." then I added, "Anyways, if this was just a small murder, I wouldn't have thought into it so much. But seriously- you don't find many- or _any, _actually, serial killer cases here in Santa Martina. And the fact that they used the number seven for a reason creeps me out... I'm curious."

"A little _too _curious." he said. "But once they actually run the tests and find him, your curiousity will be over."

"What if he's one of those unidentified creeps who doesn't really have any identity- like a name, or age or any specific looks? What if he got plastic surgery or-"

"Sammy! You obviously need an ID and all that information to get plastic surgery. You can't just walk in and say, 'Hey, change my face around, will ya?'"

"Oh... Good point. But.. What if he always changes his name around and stuff? And goes to different states and cities-"

Casey cut me off again. "To pass a state border you need a licence and an ID. Again, it's not really supporting anything."

Gosh, was it hard to work around him! But then again, he was giving me useful information.

Useful information! I made it sound like I was going to get stuck in _this _mess this time- no way.

I continued, though. "All of the victims were pretty young. More young females and males in their twenties."

"Right. It wouldn't made sense but the girl who was fourtee years old throws everything off. Otherwise it would made sense. If the fourteen year old wasn't there, then the youngest victim would've been _seven_teen, which goes along with that number seven theory."

"That makes sense," I said, "but seven is a multiple of fourteen. Seven times two is fourteen- which would mean that since tomorrow's the fourteenth, he'll kill another person? But that wouldn't make sense, because he's been killing people in the past six days. The eighth, ninth, tenth, so on until today, the thirteenth. And eight, nine and ten have nothing to do with seven."

"Wow, you're smarter than I knew of." Casey said, amazed. "I would have never thought of that."

We walked some more, in silence. Then I just stopped and gasped. "I got it!"

"What?" he asked, "What is it?"

"Seven victims. Shot, beaten, stabbed bludgeoned, and raped, right?"

"Yeah..." he said, "so...?"

"This killer isn't stupid- obviously he planned out the seven-number thing right? He started on the seventh, so far he killed seven, he killed them by repeating his method seven times..."

"Wait- how do you know if the killer is a he?" Casey asked.

"I'm getting there. You know _why _tests are even being run, right? Because what's-her-face..was it Alicia or Cassie that was raped?"

"I think it was Samantha-"

"Because Samantha was raped! Why in the world would a killer so smart get caught because he stupidly _raped _a girl? And he raped her _seven times, _so obviously he planned it out! It's a male, too, obviously. So this killer _knew _the tests were going to be run. He's playing a game. He's leaving clues because he's playing a game. It's battle between him- and Santa Martina, the police, the people! He raped her because he _knew _the tests were going to be run! He _knew _they'd find out his identity-but he's obviously very confident he won't be caught! It's simple! He wants revenge, he wants to prove to _somebody _that he's the better, faster, smarter, sneakier person. And the person who he's against isn't dead yet, either, otherwise why would he continue killing people? Get it? It's the killer- the killer against someone else. But who is that someone else?"

Casey was so silent for a minute, I thought he would just say, 'Wow, you're a freak, bye.' and walk off, but instead he said, "Incredible."

"What?"

"You'd be avery good FBI agent." he said, eyeing me.

I blushed, "Not really. It's simple."

"No, for most people it takes notes, information, information, information, information and notes, notes, notes to think of something like that. But you just thought it." he paused-then, "in fact, I think you've figured out more than the police and investigators know right now."

"Really? Well, thanks, I was just.. You know.." I stuttered.

And then Casey said, "This is getting interesting. Sammy, I think you've found yourself stuck in another mess..."

"Oops... Sorry.." I muttered.

"But-" he said, "This time can I also be stuck and come along?"

**V V V REVIEWWW! V V V =]**


	8. Distractions

**Chapter 8**

**Distractions**

I just sort of stared at Casey like he was crazy. "You mean... You _want _to figure this out?"

"Yeah." he nodded.

"But.. Everytime _I _get stuck in a mess it's by accident, see? And this is definetly not an accident."

"I picked up the paper, _whoops, _look an accident." Casey smiled. Then he grabbed my hand, "Look, we'll talk about this later. You gotta get gome."

"Yeaaahh..." I said slowly as he pulled me along. Then I said, "But what's the point of trying to be the ones to figure this out when they're running the DNA tests?"

"Well, there's no point. That's why we'll check this morning's paper to see if there is any new information." he looked down at the article clipping. "This one is from yesterday, so... Maybe there's something new? Some new information that could help?"

"Most likely." I said, still feeling like this was the weirdest thing ever. Out of all the 'accidents' in getting involved in messes like this I'd had before, _this _accident was the worst and the most dangerous, of course.

I had to stop a moment and question Casey's sanity. I decided Casey was perfectly sane when he said, "Sammy..? Sammy.. Sammy...! What's up? Why are you so zoned out?" and he added, just to catch my attention, "Look! There's your cat!"

"Where!" I yelped and snapped out of my zoned-out world.

Casey laughed, "I was kidding. You don't really have a cat... Do you?"

"Yeah, I do, actually." I scoffed.

"Oh then. Then maybe you had a right to yell 'Where!'. It was quite funny I must say."

"Oh, be..." I didn't finish the sentence by saing 'queit' because I caught sight of one of those outdoor, cheap chainstores. And right outside a store called 'CLEANERS' (What an original name, huh?) was a newspaper stand. "Look!" I said, "Let's get one now." so we headed over and the annoyed looking man chewed hastily on the edge of his cigarette. "_Whaddaya want?"_

"Um... A newspaper, please." I said.

"_We ain't got none of those 'ere." _ chew chew chew.

"Um, sir.. They're sitting right next to you." I said slowly.

"_Scram. Marcs!"_

"Marcs?" I couldn't help asking.

"_MARCS IS SCRAM BACKWARDS! AND THAT'S MAH NAME, YOU NUISANCE! MARC!"_

"Okay, okay." I said raising my hands and backing off, "chill."

"Wait." Casey said. He held out the clipping. "Do you happen to know anything about this serial killer?"

Marc's eyes bugged wide open. "_That was in today's newwwzzpaperrr." _he enunciated his 'newwwspaperrrrr'.

"Well, may be _buy _one?" Casey asked impatiently.

"_Sure thang, li'l bud." _he smiled a black-toothed smiled at Casey, which made Case cringe and hand over 75 cents. Marc handed him a newspaper and glared at me. "_Now scram, you li'l scumbag." _he said to me, "_I aint don't like no girls or fe- fe- what's it called?"_

Casey rolled his eyes, "females?"

"_Oh right. I said I aint don't like no girls or fe-thingies, females or whate'r not 'ere. Now scam!"_

"Scam?" I asked, "Or _scram?" _I said it just to bother him.

It worked.

"_I SAID SCRAM, SCRAM, SCRAM YOU FE- FE-"_

"_Female!" _I said. "And bye, Marc." I turned around, but quickly turned back and winked. "See ya later."

He growled and got up to throw a newspaper at me, which made me say, "Woah!" and Casey say, "Calm down, dude! Don't _hit _her."

"_Aw shaddap dawg." _Marc said.

Casey's eyes widened for second, taking in the fact that some bony smoker who sat on the edge of the street selling newspapers and didn't even know how to say _female _called him a 'dawg'. He turned around, disgusted.

And, most likely, scarred for life.

So Casey and I went as faaaaaaaaar away from him as we could go and checked out the newspaper. Sure enough, there was an article in it about the killings. The case was now officially named, _The Santa Martina Number-Seven Serial Murder Cases._

_The Santa Number-Seven Serial Murder Cases_

_This just in: The DNA testing for the Number-Seven serial killer failed. They re-ran the test four times but four different people came up and no one can figure out why. _

_As for the murders, there has been one more murder on the night of August 12th of a young male named Landon Hall. Hall was killed by being drugged by roofies. Apparently, he was first beaten against a sink in a public men's restroom seven times, states a witness. Then he was dragged away in which to be drugged. Dr Morris Jerins states that this serial killer will surely be back, and soon._

_Landon Hall, male, 14, beaten (7X) and drugged_

_-Reported by Delanie McDevan_

_Any further information, send an email at _

The first thing that popped out of my mouth was, "Wow, that Doctor Morris dude is an idiot. Well of course the killer will be back! He calls himself a doctor?"

Casey laughed, "He was fourteen years old, notice."

"And, I might add, what was the point of the drugs? If he was beaten, he couldn't just died there if it was bad enough."

Casey was closely inspecting the article. "This reporter.. Delanie McDevan.. Let's meet her."

"Why?"

"Because, we need to. She seems to be the one doing all these serial killer reports so she obiously knows more."

"But how do we find her?"

"I don't know.." he said. "Honestly.. I'm lost."

"Wait! Let's first email her." I said pointing to Delanie's email. "Then we can ask to meet her. We'll have to pretend to be.. Reporters from Hollywood.. Lets pretend we want to make this news _big._"

"Yeah," Casey agreed, "_big _to them means big money. Which means Delanie'll definetly say yes."

"So.. Where do we go?"

"We can't do this at my home, my dad'll ask why you're back."

"The library?" I asked.

Casey nodded, "Sure! Let's go." he ripped out the page with the article in it and threw the rest of the newspaper away in a trash can. Then he grabbed my hand. "We have some emailing to do."

"Yup." I laughed. Then I added, "It's weird to think that the killer is loose in Santa Martina." I sort of shuddered.

"Are you cold?" Casey asks me.

"No.. Why?"

"You shuddered." he stated.

I rolled my eyes and laughed, "Weren't you listening to anything I was saying? I said it's weird that there's a kille-" just then, someone's hands clamped my mouth shut from behind me. A man's. And definetly not Casey's, because he was standing right there, and then he yelled, "Sammy! RUN!"

**V V V V REVIEEEWWW V V V V **


	9. Interrogation

Chapter 9

I didn't exactly run.

Instead, I whipped around to see a very creepy looking man with a gun and a black coat and a mask.

Casey grabbed my hand and tried to pull me away, but the man with the gun just held up his gun and eyed us through his eye-holes, like, If you even dare move I'll shoot you.

Then he wiggled his finger at me- like, Come heeeeere. So I nervously took a step forward.

In a ruff, faked voice, he asked, "What is your age?"

I could almost read Casey's lips behind me even though I could see them. He was practically shouting, Don't tell the truth! in my ear.

We were in a pretty deserted place of Sisquane, so no one was even here. Instead, the man silently pointed to the back of his creepy van. It was one of those vans without any windows- creepy.

"Both of you get in there. Right now." so Casey and I slowly walked towards the van.

"What do we do? What is even going on? Is this the serial killer?"

"It's not." Casey whispered. "And then gun is not loaded, either."

"What? Why?"

"Because that's a pocketless coat. And a pocketless shirt. And pocketless pants. _No _man, _no_ killer, _no _one walks around with a loaded and or real gun and no pocket or anything to keep it or hide it or put it. And besides, this can't be the serial killer."

"Why?" I gasped.

"Well, at first I thought it was a real gun and killer, that's why I said run. But when I noticed the gun wasn't really working I looked at him more closely. That's a police officer. He's not wearing any gloves. He's not talking a lot. He's testing us. Obviously police officers have to be extra careful, especially when there's a serial killer on the loose. Anyone could be a suspect. Maybe even two teenagers walking alone on a deserted street in Sisquane _reading _about the case. He's probably been following us all along."

"Should we just go along?"

"Yeah. Just act calm. I'm positive."

I eyed him. "How do _you _know so much about all this, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Common sense. You know I know about guns. It's not that hard to figure out what people are real and what people are fake. I'm an actor, Sammy."

"Oh.. I guess so."

So we both got in the back of the van, then the "creepy man" aka police officer came and told Casey to take of his sweater and since I wasn't wearing a sweater, he just checked my pockets.

Then he asked in a regular voice, "How much do you know about these Number-Seven cases?"

"Not a lot of facts..just a lot of theories." I replied. Casey nudged me like, Good answer.

The police officer nodded. "Mm hm. And what were you two doing around this part of Sisquane?"

"We-"

Then the police officer took off his mask and pulled out a badge from inside it. "By the way, I'm Jerry Schlimen, undercover police officer. So tell me the truth, because I _can _and _will _find out eventually. Why were you here? Fooling around? Something with drugs? Anything I should know of?"

"No, sir." Casey said. "I was just walking her home, Officer, Sir.."

"Where is her home?"

Oh no.

Oh no.

What was I going to do and say? This police officer didn't look easy to fool like Officer Borsche had when I had lied to

him! I was so totally dead.

"Actually, sir," Casey said, "she doesn't exactly _live _here, she lives with her mother in Hollywood. She's visiting, and right now, for two days, she's staying at her grandmother's in Santa Martina."

Dang. Casey really _was _a good actor! His face was totally serious and straight.

The officer squinted. "Well... Okay then. Where do you live, boy?"

"Sisuane, sir."

"Names?"

"I'm Casey Acosta, and that is Samantha Keyes."

"Samantha, huh?" he asked. "Samantha Keyes?"

"Yeah.." I said.

"You don't happen to know Officer Borchse do you?"

I nodded, "Actually I do know him."

"You go by Sammy, right?"

"Yes..."

"Well, then. I'll let you guys go for now. Sorry for bothering you kids, but this is my job. Anything I see even a little bit suspicious, I have to investigate."

"It's fine." I said, "We'll be off now."

So Casey and I hopped out of the van and were about the walk away when the officer called us back, "One second!"

"Yes?" I asked as I turned back.

"What 'theories' did you guys have?"

I sort of laughed, "Oh.. Theories that no one would listen to us for, that's all."

He raised his eyebrows and said back, "Well, that'll be all, then. Goodbye, and stay safe, okay?"

"Okay, thanks, Officer!" Casey called back and we walked away.

"Wow, that was weird." I said.

Casey looked at me and laughed. "Now really. Obviously this is a big task for the officers. They have a really big case they're working on. They're obviously stressed and busy."

I shrugged, "I guess."

We were silent for a second, then I broke the silence by saying, "So.. The library?"

He shrugged, too, "Sure. That is, if we don't get killed along the way."

**A/N: Short chapter, sorry. I wanted to let you know I wasn't dead. =)**


End file.
